Veterans who need mental-health treatment are not getting it from the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to a report to Congress prepared by the agency’s inspector general. The full report is available online at http://www.va.gov/oig/pubs/VAOIG-12-00900-168.pdf. Among the findings:
* The Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which manages VA’s mental-health activities, does not have a reliable method of determining whether veterans are getting mental-health services;
* The VHA claim that 95 percent of all first-time patients received full mental-health
evaluations within 14 days is meaningless and misleading;
* VHA overstated the efficacy of providing veterans with treatment within 14 days.
A tactical air control airman attached to the Washington Air National Guard received the Silver Star medal, for heroism he displayed during a firefight in Afghanistan last May. According to the citation, Tech. Sgt. Tavis Delaney of the 116th Air Support Squadron’s actions saved the lives of 64 friendly troops, and helped fellow combatants destroy more than 200 enemy fighters, during the Battle of Do Ab. Delaney received the medal during a May 6 award ceremony at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) has issued a warning to service members, civilian Defense Department employees, and retirees to beware of bogus emails bearing a dot.mil prefix, and purportedly originating from DFAS. The emails claim that recipients of disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs may be entitled to additional money from the Internal Revenue Service. DFAS did not issue the emails. Further, persons who follow the instructions of the bogus emails risk compromising their cyber-security. The agency urged all customers to ignore the email, which asks for copies of income tax returns, 1099 forms, VA award letters, and other important data. "Do NOT follow the suggestions in the email because you will be providing a significant amount of your personal information to a complete stranger, which could result in a financial loss to you," DFAS advised.
The House version of the 2013 Defense Authorization Bill includes provisions that would establish a five-year pilot program that would require retirees who are covered by TRICARE for Life to get their prescriptions filled and refilled through the agency’s mail order pharmacy. Retirees could opt out of the mail order program after one year. The bill also calls for TRICARE pharmacy cost-sharing rates. Generic medications obtained from retail pharmacies would cost $5, formulary medications would cost $17, and non-formulary medications would cost $44. Mail order costs would be lower. Generic medications would be free, formulary medications would cost $13, and non-formulary medications would cost $43 through mail order. Annual increases in TRICARE pharmacy cost-sharing rates would be limited to an amount equal to the percentage that retiree pay increases, as of Oct. 1, 2013. The House Armed Services Committee completed markup of the legislation May 7.
The House version of the 2013 defense bill also contains provisions that would reduce the duration of commissioned service required for service members to retire as officers to eight years, down from 10 years. The discretionary authority, given to the Secretary of Defense and each service’s secretary, would begin Sept. 30, 2013, and extend to Sept. 30, 2018. The measure also would increase time-in-grade retirement waiver limitations for officers in pay grades 0-5 and 0-6. The provision would enable the services to reduce their ranks of Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps colonels and lieutenant colonels, and Navy commanders and captains, by four percent. Present law sets the limit at two years of service. Under the House proposal, the limit would be extended to three years, expiring Sept. 30, 2018. Another provision would grant a similar increase in order to reduce the ranks of flag-rank officers in pay grades 0-7 and 0-8 by five percent.
Acting upon the recommendations of female officers and sailors, the Navy is implementing several changes in the uniforms they are authorized to wear. Service dress coats have been redesigned to incorporate backing buttons, akin to those worn by male officers and chief petty officers. Slacks will include added binding over the inner stitching. Service shirts will now have more inner stitching, to prevent unraveling of the bottom hems and improve appearance. Other changes affect the khaki overblouse, civilian handbags, service dress blue and dress white coats, khaki slacks, service uniform shirts, and maternity outfits. The Navy also announced plans to evaluate the standard covers worn by both men and women this spring and summer. More details are available on the Navy Personnel Command Web site, http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc.
Army researchers are working to perfect a system by which microwave ovens would sterilize meals ready-to-eat (MREs) and other battlefield food. The new technology involves larger processors than those found in the comparatively smaller ovens used in homes. The larger ovens reduce the time it takes to make MREs and other foods shelf-stable to about eight minutes, down from three hours. The result is better-tasting food, said Tom Yang, the project’s director, at the Combat Feeding Directorate at Natick (Mass.) Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center. For soldiers in the field, the process could mean that two former MRE favorites – macaroni and cheese and Mexican macaroni and cheese – could return. "Both of them have been dropped from MREs. Microwave sterilization can really revive these kinds of dishes. If you retort macaroni and cheese, the detrimental effects of the retort process result in a product that is like a lump -- a rubbery, tasteless lump," Yang said. "If you use the microwave process on mac and cheese, it's going to be very bright yellow. It has a pleasant cheese aroma. So it's a big difference."
Air Force Gen. Mike Hostage, the commander of Air Combat Command, affirmed his support in the F-22 Raptor fighter jet, in response to stories that recently appeared in news reports, in which pilots criticized the aircraft’s oxygen system. The problem was addressed sufficiently during a command-ordered a stand-down of the aircraft that took place between May and September 2011, Hostage said. He also confirmed that the Raptor has been deployed to Southwest Asia, but declined to specify exactly where. "I believe we are making significant progress toward an answer," Hostage said. "I don’t want to characterize how far or when, because I don’t own the progress of science. But I am confident we’re going to get to a solution."
The Defense Department needs to do a better job of assessing the link between environmental contamination and risk to public health at installations, according to the top government watchdog organization. DoD should "establish a policy that identifies when installations should consider requesting public health assessments," and work harder to meet a department goal of "providing effective, save, and environmentally sound living and working places," the Government Accountability Office (GAO) stated in a May 1 report to Congress. GAO produced the report largely in response to past incidents of base contamination. Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base, N.C., has grappled with a long-standing problem of contaminated drinking water, and Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan, has drawn attention because of polluted air caused by an off-base incinerator. Additionally, many veterans of combat campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan have complained of health problems relating to the open burn pits, which have been used to dispose of waste materials.
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